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from the milk bar

I’m usually not the type to go out of my way to make something. I know that may not seem to be the case at all, but I really hate having to rush out to the store for that one last thing, or even planning ahead in general. I bake because I love to share food with people, but I prefer to cook simply because I can taste as I go and really play with the ingredients I have. With baking, things must be precise and added in a certain order so as to avoid chaos (to be clear, chaos is throwing away an entire mixing bowl full of cookie dough because you added twice as much flour as you were supposed to). Either way, for these reasons and more, I tend to steer clear of specialty baking items and more often than not, I end up baking my favorite chocolate chip cookies to bring to parties instead of something I’ve never tried before – because, you know, always play it safe for stuff like that!

These cookies, however, are quite a different story. I was at Ma Peche one day and while walking out, passed by a few Momofuku items for sale. This corn powder was one of them. My favorite Milk Bar cookies are the corn ones. They taste like Captain Crunch to me in the best way possible, so the idea of making them at home was too good to pass up. I knew that it might be a hard sell here; after all, you have to find freeze-dried corn powder, and that’s not exactly something you can pick up at your local bodega, but it’s always fun to try something new and believe me, everyone loved these cookies. They are unexpected, slightly sweet, but with a strange, addictive flavor that nobody will quite be able to pick up on, yet go back for seconds or thirds of. I think that these would also be a great addition to a Thanksgiving dinner – corn bread dessert, anyone? That’s basically what these are. If you’re the kind of person who prefers are more subtle, less sweet dessert, then these are for you!

Yes, this is one of the few recipes in which you will need a very specific ingredient: freeze dried corn powder. It’s worth it, I absolutely promise.

Mix up your dough.

Flatten the tops of the cookies slightly with the palm of your hand, wrap the trays well in plastic wrap, and chill in the fridge for at least an hour or as long as overnight. When ready, bake them for 11-18 minutes, depending on how large your cookies are. I baked mine for about 11-12 minutes total.

Cream together the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add in the egg. This is important, now: beat in the egg and keep beating on medium for at least 7 solid minutes. The mixture will becoming very airy and whipped looking - this is good.

Combine the all-purpose flour, corn powder, corn flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a medium sized bowl, then gradually add it to the butter mixture, until well incorporated, being careful not to overmix the dough.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment or wax paper, and using a cookie scoop (mine is about the size of 3 tablespoons, but the recipe recommends using one that is about ⅓-cup in size), scoop out the dough and place the balls on the sheet. You won't be baking them quite yet, so go ahead and place them close together so that they will fit. Flatten the tops of the cookies slightly with the palm of your hand. Wrap the tray tightly with plastic wrap, and chill for at least 1 hour in the fridge, or as long as overnight. This is essential - the cookies will spread out way too much if you don't chill them.

Once chilled, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Arrange the dough on a new parchment-lined cookie sheet so that the balls are at least 2-4 inches apart on the pan (again, this depends on the size of your cookies). Bake for 13-18 minutes, depending on the size of your cookies. Mine were 3 tablespoons each, so I baked mine for 11-12 minutes, until just barely browned on the edges but still bright yellow in the middle.

Allow the cookies to cool completely, then move them to an airtight container or serving tray. They will keep well in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days (or you can freeze them for up to 1 month).

If you were to feel the two between your fingers, you would notice the difference, although I obviously haven’t tried it and you are welcome to let me know the results if you think it’d work! The freeze dried corn powder is extremely fine; it almost feels like flour itself, while cornmeal or polenta is much more coarse. I think that using these larger granules would lead to a great absorption of moisture and therefore drier cookies, but I bet you could remedy these by decreasing the baking time.

We went to Momofuku when we were in NYC last month but we didn’t get a chance to try these. They look great/weird which I think is a super combination. I actually know that I can get corn flour at the Dekalb Farmer’s Market here in Georgia because I bought it thinking I could make tortillas. I can not make tortillas; however, I probably can make these.

I have made a few cookies from her book and have never had really good results. They are huge, spread out so much, and too crispy from all the butter rather than soft and chewy. But of all I have seen, I am always impressed with the corn cookies to give me what I want. Yours are gorgeous and now I kinda wanna try one last milkbar cookie recipe – these!

in the book, tosi recommends using bread flour because it has a higher protein content, saying it absorbs more of the moisture from the butter – i think using bread flour might help with the spreading!

I’m so jealous that you’re able to find specialty ingredients readily available. Even though I live in a big city (San Diego), there aren’t very many good places that have good specialty baking ingredients. I usually have to order off the internet. These cookies look and sound so good! I hope to have the chance to get my hands on some corn flour so I can give them a try!

Wow. I never knew I needed freeze dried corn powder until now. I recently tried a chocolate bar with corn nuts in it, and it was incredible. I really hope my path crosses with a Momofuku one of these days (none in my corner of the world) so I can try out some of these fabled treats. Thanks for posting the recipe and opening my eyes to the existence of corn powder.

I mail ordered Momofuku Corn Cookies and Corn Powder. The first time I tried the cookies I wasn’t sure, but now I crave them all the time. I’ve used the corn powder a couple times but still have to make the cookies. I can’t wait to give them a try!

You can get freeze dried corn at Nuts.com. I am told that it is pretty easy to turn freeze dried corn to freeze dried corn powder in a coffee grinder or perhaps a food processor. You can also get the corn flour there. The prices at Nuts.com a much better than I have seen elsewhere. I ordered some of the corn and the flour today and hope to have the early next week to try out these cookies.

As indicated above, I ordered freeze dried corn from Nuts.com. I ground it in a food processor and it was great. You need to start with about a cup and a half of the whole corn kernels (maybe a little more) to end up with 2/3 cup of ground corn.

Hi! Did you use a stand mixer to mix the cookie dough, or did you mix by hand? I’ve seen Christina Tosi talk about the importance of using a stand mixer for these cookies, and I’m wondering how absolutely necessary it is (especially texture-wise the corn cookies don’t seem THAT different from chewy sugar cookies). Thanks!